


Atlas Begged

by myglassesaredirty



Category: Psych
Genre: Alternate Universe - Ancient Greek Religion & Lore Fusion, F/M, Inspired by Poetry, Poetry, maddy is a goddess, my own to be exact
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-05
Updated: 2019-08-05
Packaged: 2020-08-09 18:34:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 989
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20122978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/myglassesaredirty/pseuds/myglassesaredirty
Summary: Like it, love it, hate it? Leave a comment below or go to my tumblr, @ my-glasses-are-dirty, and tell me what you think!





	Atlas Begged

She was a goddess –

Or almost a goddess –

Forged in the fire of battle.

Her hair was woven from golden thread,

And she spoke with a voice softer than the first snowfall.

It was inevitable, then, that a warrior

Would love her.

He loved the way she found him

After a battle,

The way she could heal his wounds

With the touch of her hand,

With the whisper of her words,

Or with a brush of the lips.

When the sun fell across the horizon,

And the gods showed themselves in the stars,

He would lean close and kiss her.

Her lips were hot and cold at once,

Like a volcano and a blizzard fought for command.

She was just supposed to help the warriors

In a way the other gods could not.

But she fell for a warrior,

And she could not ignore her desire.

She still helped the other warriors,

But Henry was hers. He

Was her priority. He shouldered

Too much,

And the hollows on his shoulders took

Too long to heal.

After battle, he would undress,

And she would gently run her hands over

The hollows on his back.

When her touch would not help,

She lowered her head and pressed her lips

To his shoulders.

Madeleine was the goddess of the mind,

Not of strategy,

Not like Athena,

And she was not doing her duty.

The gods

Decided to curse her.

Henry was already used to shouldering

A burden too much for him to bear alone.

He was with Madeleine when the gods

Threw the sky at her,

Knowing that the only thing that could

Destroy a goddess forged

In the fire of war

Was the only thing stronger than all of them.

The sky rushed to meet them,

And Madeleine could only stand.

He pushed her out of the way,

Rolled underneath the sky,

And let the burden crush him.

He was no god,

He was merely a mortal.

The gods pressed harder,

And his hands shook.

It was either his burden or Madeleine’s,

And he refused to let her bear it.

His hands shook even more, and she knelt,

Between the sky and the ground,

Her face knit with worry,

Her golden hair looking like hay,

And she asked to take the burden.

The gods wanted to kill her, she said.

But Henry refused:

The damage was already done.

The gods meant to curse her,

But Henry took the burden;

The gods, however, are stubborn,

And Madeleine would suffer either way:

If she was burdening the sky,

Or if her lover was.

The curse was permanent,

And only one person could hold up the sky.

He trembled under its weight,

Listened to the sobbing cries of

Mothers

Who had lost their sons to a war.

A war he could have fought.

The gods are cruel,

And he knew that it was his duty

To fight,

To bear the burden,

But he could only choose one.

Henry was no god,

I feel I must say.

He was merely a mortal,

And his time would run out.

With each passing day,

Each second that he continued

To hold the universe upon his back,

His time shortened,

And when his time runs out,

The sky will come crashing down.

He took the burden for himself,

Took it as his punishment for falling in love

With a goddess.

The gods and mortals

Are not supposed to intermix,

You see.

It was his punishment to serve,

And he would serve it alone.

The sky pressed further,

And he shrugged.

The sky tilted on its axis, but he held firm.

The sky stayed,

But

His time is almost out.

He might be known,

In some circles,

As Atlas,

But he was only a warrior,

He could not be a god.

His strength is running out,

And the weight of the sky would

Crush the earth into dust.

With arms shaking,

Gritted teeth,

Dirt staining his face,

And tears carving paths

Upon his cheeks,

He begged Madeleine to run.

To run before the world fell,

Before the end arrived.

He is only human,

And a mortal’s time only lasts so long.

But Madeleine refused to run.

He is not Atlas as we know Atlas.

He is not a god.

He is barely himself.

All that is left of him is trembling hands,

Shaking knees,

And hollows on his shoulders.

Madeleine did what she could,

But she could only

Buy him a millennia of time;

She gave up part of her life

For him.

And after a thousand years, she knows

That he has carried the world,

Has carried the sky,

For too long.

But he insisted that it was his burden to bear,

And he would bear it alone.

His time is almost finished,

The last grains in the hourglass fall

Too quickly for Madeleine.

He is very weak, but

He is a hero,

And he will continue to bear the burden.

Now, however,

After a thousand years,

He blinks at her through tired eyes,

The sky tilting dangerously,

And he asks her to run last time.

He clears his throat and says,

“Run to find someone who will help me”

(But she cannot find someone who can bear such a burden)

“Run to find someone who will care”

(She cares, but her time is winding down,

Slowly)

“Run to find someone who is a god”

(Only a handful of mortals know of a god who could do

Any or all

Of the above)

Henry grits his teeth, and

With a shaking voice,

Says,

“This is not the burden I wish to bear.”

He is on the last few remaining grains of sand.

He has hours left.

“Take this from me,

For I never realized what this would take,

But until you find someone,

I will kneel to the ground,

I will bow my head,

And I will hold the world,

Until more capable hands take it from me.”

**Author's Note:**

> Like it, love it, hate it? Leave a comment below or go to my tumblr, @ my-glasses-are-dirty, and tell me what you think!


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